Dear Praying Friends & Family,

The last two months have been a roller coaster. In this report, I cover some of the enormous challenges we’ve faced, as well as some of the tremendous blessings. Through it all, God is our rock and fortress, and we cling to him.

“Pastor, We Need To Talk.”

I landed in Colombia toward the end of July for a quick, 2-week trip to celebrate our church’s 4th anniversary and the wedding of one of our preacher men. It was looking to be a joyous trip, but I heard a fateful phrase way too many times… “Pastor, we need to talk.” I sat through dozens upon dozens of complaints, observations, and concerns, all about one of the men who had served closest to me for the past four years. After all was said and done, this man decided to leave, and he didn’t leave well. He hurt many people and thought everyone was against him. He wouldn’t let others help him. To him, it was everyone else’s problem. Pride destroys as nothing else can! As we dug deeper into the situation, we found numerous issues beyond mere hurt feelings. Pray for this man, as well as his family and two other leaders who left with him. We continue to love them and pray that they repent and can be restored to fellowship with Christ’s church.

Moving Forward In Faith

It may sound crazy, but I’m grateful that this horrible situation took place when it did. Our church and the rest of the leaders have risen to fill in the gaps, and I believe we are better for it. We lost around ten people, but since then we’ve had dozens of new families visit, new members added, and new leaders are stepping up. We improved several systems, and the church is in even better shape than before. We’ve been encouraged in seeing both spiritual and numerical growth in the past month. Our leaders are united, as is the entire church body. People are still being saved and discipled. New opportunities are opening up like never before. We press on in the strength that Christ gives.

Family Funny

We recently enjoyed a baseball game with the whole family for the first time. Aris, our 3-year-old, had never been to such an event, and since everyone was shouting, she decided to join them with a loud “HALLELUJAH!”

Praises & Prayer Requests

• Thanks to offerings from some of you, we were able to recover 100% from the church robbery I write about last time. Praise God!

• God has given us safety on the road, several good meetings, and a few more supporters. Amen! Pray as we head into a hectic “missions conference season.”

• The landlord of the house our second church is renting notified us that she needs the property back soon. However, we were just offered an incredible piece of property next door. We are trying to raise $50,000 to purchase it when we return to Colombia. I’ll write more about this in our next letter. If you’d like to give, click here.

• We thank God for some excellent opportunities we’ve had to witness while here in America. There is still a great need here!

The Our Generation Summit

We will be participating in a missions event like no other on December 28-29, 2018. For the first time, The Summit will take place in Ohio. Plus, it’s only $80, including lodging. We would love to see you there! For more info check out their website: www.ogsummit.com.

Once again, thank you. Your prayers and financial support have made our ministry possible. May God supply your every need. 

To Magnify Christ,
Aaron & Aubrie Vance and family

To download a PDF of this letter, click here.

Or, following is a JPG of this prayer letter that you can also save and print:

And some recent pictures from our ministry and family:

Amira was my travel buddy in August. I sure cherish the time we can spend together with each of our kids individually!

While in Colombia I was able to meet with 40 of our key church leaders! We spoke of the need to base our joy in Christ and not the ministry we do for Him.

It was a blessing to marry Juan & Jennifer. They’ve both been with us since the beginning and we have seen them grow in their love for Christ and each other.

In July, my parents brought the rest of the grandkids to meet us while we were at a missions conference in Tennessee.

For more info and to register, check out http://www.ogsummit.com